ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- Rick Scott, Florida's governor-elect, stopped at the Hilton Garden Inn with his mobile transition team Wednesday to listen to local lawmakers, all of whom stressed that the state's education system needs improvement.

At the table with Scott were State Sens. Steven Wise, R-Jacksonville, and Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, as well as State Reps. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, and Mike Weinstein, R-Orange Park.

Wise handed Scott a report he commissioned from education consultant Alexandria Penn-Williams that examined the efficiency and effectiveness of the state's Department of Education.

One major drawback, for example, was the DOE's inadequate computer system, which Wise was astounded to learn still uses Cobal, one of the oldest programing languages, invented in 1959.

"It takes a lot of time to convert data into a usable format," Wise said. "(But) the people who make the decisions in the DOE don't want to change the program. They'd have to learn a new system."

That system has been patched over and over again, he said.

In addition, Wise said, a respected high school program, The Governor's School for Math, Science and Space Technology, had been reduced to just summer sessions due to budget cuts.

"These are rising seniors, gifted and talented kids. They're taught by astronaut Sam Durrance of Jacksonville. Bright kids from Florida end up at MIT or CalTech. None stay here," he said. "We ought to have an initiative that focuses in on kids who are very bright."

A $60,000 scholarship program at Florida Institute of Technology might keep those students in the state, he said.

Wise also sounded an alarm about the increasing numbers of black boys falling behind in school.

"We're third in the nation in the number of black boys enrolled in public schools, behind Texas and Georgia. There are 2,000 ninth-grade kids in 44 schools in Nassau, Flagler, Putnam, Union, Hamilton, Baker, Suwanee and Lafayette counties who read at Level 1 on the FCAT," he said.

That is below third-grade level, he said.

'Anarchy in the big cities'

"How did they get to ninth-grade reading at that level and not read? There are 111,000 kids in Florida who have failed their grade two or more times. If we don't do something with these kids, we're going to have anarchy in the big cities."

Weinstein said children who fall behind in school "give up and are basically done. Mentoring alone doesn't work. Scholarships alone don't work. Together, they can give kids the idea, 'No matter where I come from, I can get somewhere.'"

Both offered one possible way to finance the mentoring and scholarship idea: Ask each utility bill customer to add $1 or $2 to add to his electric bill.

Wise said utility companies are reluctant to do that, but after three years of asking, Jacksonville Electric Authority decided to implement it and called it Prosperity Scholarship.

"JEA could present the idea to all utilities in the state, saying, 'This is what we did and how we did it.' It's not a lot of money," he said.

Weinstein said his main concern is philosophical.

"We need to determine what it is we want government to do," he said. "When you get to that, everything else is easier. If every (level of government) has a hand in running the school system, nobody is accountable. I'd like to push things down as far as possible and not micro-manage. Let's fund our priorities adequately and let everybody fight for what's left. It's going to be painful."

Define universities' missions

Proctor said his concerns involve property insurance, education and military veterans affairs.

"We haven't forced mission commitments on our major universities and make them function on the things that they do well," he said.

Hill said that a group of students in Jacksonville is building solar hot water heaters, though the ones available commercially are mostly made in China.

"There's no reason why we can't manufacture them here to create jobs," he said.

He'd also like to see a repeal of a law requiring two forms of identification to get into a Florida port, saying it is expensive and restrictive on port workers to renew those IDs annually.

"We're competing with Savannah and Charleston," he said.

Hill also said the graduation rate among black males was "disastrous" and said a program designed to get more black males working in elementary education would help.

The legislators were unanimous in agreeing that pension reform will be an issue lawmakers must tackle.

After an hour of receiving input, Scott told the group, "I look forward to working with you in Tallahassee."

In a two-minute press conference in front of the hotel, Scott fielded one or two questions.

"My job is to listen and try to understand what everyone in Florida is concerned about," he said. "I'm interested in tort reform and job creation. Those states who will do the best (in attracting jobs) are those states most conducive to business."

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to see how effective scott is at gutting the educational system to endorse private schools and vouchers.. it is helpful that his party and his followers abhor intelligence and exalt ignorance.. soon enough, this state will be lower than Mississippi and scott, thrasher, bush, et. al., will be satisfied to rule over a state of morons..

No one seems to get that jobs are created by the private sector, that education is what's needed to invoke young and old minds to be positive and creative enough to do that, and that education is needed to run the business so that all prosper.

Why is it that whenever they try to fix education they focus on the teachers? Maybe the administration and the parents should be held accountable for their lack of support of the teachers allowing them to be able to provide appropriate discipline to maintain control in the classroom. We are not talking about abuse but rather a return to when a student was disruptive they weren't allowed to just return to class because the administration is afraid of being sued by the parents. If teens know they can manipulate the system they will and do.

When it comes to cuts, why is it always teachers who are cut but not administration. I am tired of seeing an article about the need to cut teachers due to financial problems then a week later see an announcement of the creation of a new assistant principle position being created at more money. Management means to manage and to accept responsibility. If nobody is responsible how can we teach students.

are the ones living large on the government's dime, the teachers are the ones who belong to the evil, unpatriotic and seditious unions, the teachers are the easy target.

Rep. Proctor said that, in his opinion, one of the biggest frustrations of teachers is...not lack of supplies, not ever-changing and interfering state DOE regulations, not lack of discipline, not uninvolved parents, not the culture of 'educated elite', not the overt discouragement of intellectual curiosity in popular culture, not useless administrators promoted above their competency level.....no- the biggest frustration for teachers, in his mind, is that other teachers who aren't good at their jobs get the same automatic pay increase at the end of the year that they do. He didn't mention whether any other government employees on a step program feel a similar frustration. THAT is why he supports merit pay - because THAT is the biggest problem teachers face in the classroom.

Start there, and you can see why we will get nowhere, fast. The agenda is not for better public schools, it is a continuation of Jeb's agenda, using his advisors, to dismantle public education.

As for businesses - no business will relocate to Florida if their employees won't transfer; if there aren't good schools, families simply won't come. Do they factor that in?